Drapery shaper



INVENTOR v ARTHUR (LAND son. w

ATTORNEY".

A. C. ANDERSON DRAPERY SHAPER Filed July 21, 1951 47 F 15.2 FLE E Dec 16, 1952 Fl [-3 -l as to prevent collapsing Patented Dec. 16, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE "DRAPERY SHAPER Arthur 0. Anderson, San Leandro, Calif; Application July 21, 1951, Serial No. 237,865

This invention relates to drapery shapers', and is particularly directed toward a device arranged to be operatively inserted in a drapery pleat so or other deformation of the pleat.

An object of the present invention is to provide a'drapery pleat reinforcing member or shaper which may be simply and readily inserted in or removed from a' drapery pleat irrespective of whether the drapery is hanging from a support member or removed therefrom.

Another object of this invention is to provide a shaper of the type described which, due to its simple construction, can be economically produced, and which may be operatively installed in the drape pleat by a person not possessing any particular skill or training.

A further object of my invention is to provide a shaper for drapery pleats in which means are provided for continuously maintaining the vertical edges of the pleat in opposing stressed relationship whereby the pleat will be maintained in a spread apart and attractive position.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a stiffener for drape pleats of the type hereinabove described which may be operatively installed without the use of pins, hooks or other fastening means, and which does not require any piercing of the drape fabric.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drape shaper of the character described in which means are'provided for forming the pleat in .a direction normal to the general plane of the drape, while at the same time, spreading the pleat to its full "transverse width.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device of the type described which may be left in the pleat during ironing of the drape without deleteriously affecting the pleat shape or the fabric.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following decription of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing and description may be adopted Within the scope ofthe invention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a piece of drapery having pleats therein in which the shaper of the present invention is arranged to be inserted.

4. Claims. (01. 160- 348) 2 Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the shaper of the present invention. Figure 3 is a portional view of a drape pleat,

similar to Figure 1, portions of the figure being broken away to disclose the shaper in operative position.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken sub stantially in the plane indicated by the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2, but showing the shaper in inverted position.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 3, indicating the shaper of Figure 5 installed in the pleat.

Figure 7-is a perspective view of a modified form of shaper.

Figure 8 is a view similar'to Figure 3 with the shaper of Figure 7 shown in operative position.

Figure 9 is a top plan view taken substantially in the plane indicated by the line 99 of Figure 8.

Heretofore, numerous devices have been presented to the purchasing public for use as drapery pleat shapers; however, due either to their high cost of manufacture, their inability to be placed in a drape already provided with supporting or hanging means, or other reasons, such prior art devices have not attained a Wide spread acceptance by drapery users. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, I have overcome the objectionable features inherent in these prior devices, while, at the same time, providing an improved and simplified pleat shaper. With particular reference to Figures 1 through 4 of the drawing, the shaper, generally indicated by the numeral [6, is arranged to be inserted in a pleat l'l formed adjacent the upper end "of a drape l8. In general, the pleat is formed by folding a portion of the drape into a loop and tacking the latter as shown at I9, the entire drape being supported on a rod or the like by means of the hooked pins 20 or similar means. This loop or fold of material has generally parallel sides 2| for a portion of their length downwardly converging at 22, and then flaring outwardly at 23 toward the lower end of the drape. The open-ended pleats I! are spaced along the width of the drape and serve to give additional body and ornamental appearance to the latter. As will be understood, the pleats I! do not possess sufficient rigidity to preserve the proper form thereof as shown in Figure 4, and to preserve such form over extended periods of use, some means must be provided to lend the requisite rigidity to the pleat and to maintain the sides 2| thereof in a spread apart relation.

The foregoing may be easily accomplished by 3 means of the shaper l 6 which is arranged to enter the open top end of the pleat and resiliently urge the sides of the latter into proper relationship. As here shown, the shaper is preferably constructed of a unitary piece of wire or similar material and has a top portion 26 and a pair of spaced side members 21 and 28 extending generally normally from the top portion. The distal ends of the side members are provided with rounded end portions 29 whereby said members may enter the pleat without danger of tearing or otherwise injuring the drape fabric. The shaper is sufficiently resilient so that the side members thereof may be moved inwardly as shown by the dotted lines of Figure 2 for insertion into the pleat, and after the same is fully within the pleat, with the top portion 26 thereof substantially immediately adjacent the upper end of the pleat, the side portions will spring outwardly to maintain the pleat sides 2| in a stretched apart position. Also, due to the resiliency of the shaper, in the event the converging portion 22 of the pleat commences at a shorter distance from the top of the drape than the length of the shaper, the latter may still be utilized with the ends 29 thereof being pushed inwardly by the converging pleat portions.

In Figures 5 and 6, I have shown a slightly modified form of shaper 3|, which will be noted, is arranged to be inserted in the pleat with the top portion 32 in an inverted position. To insure maximum spreading of the pleat sides, it is preferable to have the side portions 33 of the shaper converge from the portion 32. Thus, to insert this shaper, the user will merely urge the side portions inwardly to a substantially parallel relationship, and after the shaper is installed in the pleat, the side portions will attempt to resume their normal convergent relationship, and thereby force the pleat sides into a'spread apart and attractive position.

A still further embodiment of my invention is disclosed in Figures 7 through 9 of the drawing, in which the shaper is provided with means for simultaneously forcing the sides of the pleat outwardly and causing the vertically disposed center portion of the pleat to be raised from the normal plane of the drape. The shaper, generally indicated by the numeral 41 is again preferably formed of a unitary piece of wire or like resilient material with generally coplanar sides 42 and 43 and curled ends 44 as in the other embodiments of my invention. The intermediate portion of the shaper is offset from the plane of the sides and includes the double thickness central portion 46 and the top portions 41 and 48 which join the central portion to the sides. As will best be seen in Figure 9, when the shaper is inserted in the pleat, the sides 42 and 43 will urge the sides of the pleat outwardly into parallel spaced relation, while at the same time, the central portion 46 of the shaper will cause the central portion of the pleat to stand out from the plane of the drapery. This will result in a more attractive pleat and add additional body to the drape.

I claim:

1. A drapery pleat shaper comprising, a pair of generally parallel outer leg members, a looped intermediate member generally parallel to and spaced medially of said leg members, said intermediate member'lying in a plane ofiset from the, plane of said leg members, and said leg members being resiliently deformable in their said plane.

2. A device of the character described comprising pair of generally parallel spaced leg members lying in a common plane, an intermediate element having the ends thereof secured to an end of each of said leg members, said element being bent on itself to provide a generally parallel and substantially contiguous pair of members, said latter members lying in a, plane offset from the plane of said leg members, and said leg members being resiliently deformable in their said plane.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which means are provided adjacent the distal ends of said leg members for guiding said device into the pleat.

4. A drapery pleat shaper including a pair of leg elements lying in a common plane and spaced apart substantially the width of a drapery pleat, means interconnecting end portions of said elements, and an element secured to said interconnecting means generally parallel to said elements and lying in a plane offset from the said plane thereof.

ARTHUR C. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 763,780 Nachmann June 28, 1904 1,863,638 Richter June 21, 1932 2,018,198 Baggett Oct. 22, 1935 2,181,813 Kaufman Nov. 28, 1939 2,375,374 Lepp May 8, 1945 

